Inspiration Fridays: Putting It Together

I'm going to reference a musical.  I've done it before on this blog, and once again, it's that day.  I like musicals.  They're fun.  But, it's not just any musical.  It's a Sondheim musical.  And, it's not just any Sondheim musical.  It's "Sunday in the Park with George," which, in my opinion, is the best Sondheim musical. 

 Here's a picture of Mandy Patinkin playing the title role-

That's Bernadette Peters in the pinkish/ salmony/ reddish(?) dress.  With the parasol.

The story is that of Georges Seurat, and there is this glorious song in the play called "Putting it Together".  The opening stanza goes like this-

"Bit by bit, putting it together
Piece by piece, only way to make a work of art
Every moment makes a contribution
Every little detail plays a part
Having just a vision's no solution
Everything depends on execution
Putting it together (That's what counts)"

Each piece is a part of the puzzle.  But, it takes all of them to make one piece of art.  How cool is that?  Here's a Seurat painting to give you an idea of why/ how this makes sense.

Get it?  Got it?  Good.

 He used pointilism.  It's a bunch of little dots that make a picture.  Like pixels, but with paint, many years before pixels were an idea. Each dot is a little coloured dot in and of itself, but together, they form a beautiful, complete, cohesive whole.

This other verse, from much later in the song, expresses better where I'm attempting to take this idea...

"Beat by beat, losing inhibition
Head, hands, feet, trying to relax, but not too much
Trying to lay out the exposition
But without exposing it as such
Trying to perform but not audition
Trying to establish recognition"

Here's what I'm going through: 

Wow, that makes it sound as if my life is overwhelmingly difficult and unfortunate.  My life is rather great, just to let you know, but I am dealing with a concept.  I hesitate to call it a problem, because it isn't problematic.  I just can't name it. 

I'm fascinated.  

 I'm easily fascinated.  I like a lot of things, but, within the past six monthes, they have come together in my mind to form one conclusive concept.  I like yoga, voice, martial arts, acting, photography, writing... and it's the putting it together that seems to be tricky.  See what I did there?  I used the title of the song in my sentence.  Putting it together.  Writing.  I like it.  Anyway,  these are all decidedly independant interests, and I've spent a bit of time contemplating why exactly it is that all of them fascinate me- why I feel the desire to split my interest in so many different directions.  Because, that is a bunch of different directions.

I've determined why- 

It's the thread that connects all of them: understanding the human experience.  It's fascinating.  If I just got really broad or new-agey for you, take a few steps back with me, and if that made total sense, congratulations on getting what I mean faster than I initially got it.  Okay.  The human experience.  What it means to be alive.  Not that far... I'm not pretending I know the meaning of life.  Haha, no.  I'm young, and learning.  Making a claim like that is crazy, and I'm not, for a second, going to attempt to bluff that.  But, I know what it means to be alive.  I happen to be alive.  Of that, I'm certain.  This isn't the Matrix.  At least, I don't think it is.  My best guess is that you are alive too.  Just because of logic and stuff.  Being alive means that you think, feel, touch, taste, share, hide... often all at the same time.  We all do these things.  Every day.  Yes, maybe you are fasting, alright, blast me in the comments, but in general, we all do these things.  We share this.  We are alive, together, we all have minds, we all think, we all feel, we all understand.  This isn't rocket science, or anything new.

 

Yet...

 How often do we truly analyze our own selves?  Our own true selves?  Or, even more importantly, the minds, feelings, tastes, touches of others?  I don't mean by caressing them, though that is very nice, and I do recommend it.  I mean by thinking like them.  Empathy.  Really putting yourself in their shoes.  Seeing things in a different, new way because it is something you, as a human are not only capable of, but programmed to do.  Culturally, we are shut down from our ability to do this.  We go, "me, me, me!".  Science backs me up on this though- that's not how we are born.  During the first few monthes when we are a helpless baby, yes, but soon after, we become pack animals.  We attempt to understand each other.

Then, we STOP understanding each other.  

And we stop understanding ourselves. Why?  Why would we do that?  Is it culture?  Is it pre-programmed?  I have no idea.  I just am fairly certain that it happens. We get wrapped up in the things swirling around in our minds- our fears, our concepts of right and wrong, our misconceptions... and they skew our view of the world.  They are not us, and they are not ultimate truths.  They can be changed.  We exist in a world of grey. We can start again.  Most of us would never think of it.  I have. I don't know why, but, I have. And, I've changed.  It's very exciting, and has increased the amount of happiness I feel about the world, myself, and you know, life in general.  Which is nice.  I'm at a point in my life where I am physically fit, healthy, confident, and overall happy.  Yeah, I have bad days, but I relish them, knowing that other days will be better.  Bad days are a gift to remind you that the happy times are impermanent, but so are the bad times.  You know?  It seems so clear to me now.

SO...  What are you getting at?

I know.  I have to be going somewhere with this.  Bear with me.  You should win a medal for this.

How does this apply to yoga, voice, martial arts, acting, photography and writing?  Well, which one of those things doesn't need a sense of empathy and understanding of the self?  Let's go through.

1. Yoga

It prepares the body and mind for meditation.  Yoga includes stretching, strengthening, improving breathing, improving awareness, and eventually teaching mind and body control in order to reveal the real self.  Well, yeah.  That clearly fits.


2. Voice

 Voice work in a nutshell...releasing tension, un-inhibiting the connection between your brain and your sound, teaching the most open and resonant way to release sound so that your thoughts, needs, and understandings are clearly communicated to others and the world through language, working with the text of others...  Yup.  That fits too.


3. Photography

 Anyone can take a photograph of something, but if you put 20 different people in a room, and ask them to take photographs of the same thing, you will get 20 different pictures, because they will all see the subject differently.  They all have different perceptions of the world that they can share with one another, and through the lens of a photographer, we are exposed to their unique sensitivities and worldview.  It's almost voyeuristic.  You get a glimpse into the soul of the artist.  Yeah.  Once again, this fits.


4. Martial Arts

 I mentioned confidence, and nothing boosts your confidence like knowing martial arts.  You feel like a badass, capable of defending and taking care of yourself, and those you love.  Those inhibitions in your mind, which are there for so many reasons, start to disintegrate because, no, you know what?  I can do this  I can do this.   Guys, I'm starting to see a pattern.


5. Writing

 This one is similar to what I said about photography- no one person is going to write the same way as another person.  We all have our own cadences, our unique connections to language, our personal favourite words, expressions, and beyond that, topic choices.  Through our writing we reveal ourselves and our humanity. We see another person's world through their eyes, and are sucked in.  I'm taking a class with Def Poetry Jam's Lemon Anderson, and he said something freaking brilliant last night-  "Bring them to a place nobody knows, then remind them that they've been there".  Brilliance.  This fits.


6. Acting

The mother of all of them.  This combines everything I've said up above.  Your body has to be free.  Your voice has to be connected and free.  Your mind has to be free.  You have to have a creative opinion and confidence.  AND... this is why it's the mother... you have to have extraordinary empathy.  Meryl Streep, who I think everyone can agree is an exceptional actor, said, "The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy".  Susan Sarandon, who I think is also pretty fantastic, said, "I think I'm an actor because I have very strong imagination and empathy".  I didn't make this up, is what I'm saying.  People smarter and older than me have said this, and I'm just putting it into my own words.

THUS...

I am appreciative and thankful to have come to this conclusion, realization, epiphany, enlightenment, whatever you want to call it, and I want to share it.  It has brought me a lot of inner peace, and hopefully, it can bring other people inner peace as well.  I want to teach people.  I want to learn how to teach people to feel empathy for themselves and one another, to comprehend not only their own mind and power, but that of others.  I'm putting together how to do this.  It's through Voice that I most excel, and frankly, it's what I care the most about.  It seems like a good way to reach people.  I want to make them good actors, and good people, and the same time.  The school at which I am a priviledged, lucky, happy, thrilled lady to work has this as their mission statement- "Growth as an actor and as a human being are synonymous".  And damnit, they are so right.  That concept has changed my life, and made me need to change the lives of others with it. 

THAT is what I want.

That.  That is what I want.  I want to learn to be an inspirational teacher.  I want to learn how make the future brighter for other people through my love of voice, acting, text, and them.  I want to learn everything I can so that I can do this as well as possible.  Every one of these hobbies is opening my eyes to more facets of this concept, and then I can apply it to the techniques I'm learning from the beautiful teachers who are allowing me to shadow their classes, as well as other instructors I've had along the way.  I'm not pretending that I've got it figured out, or that I've mastered this.  I'm a student.  I always will be.  Which, is thrilling.  There is so much to learn.  I'm so young, and still so stupid.  There is so much out there...




I AM SO EXCITED!

Happy Friday!

It's All in the Content, Apparently

Dudes, we need to talk...

Writing a blog is tricky.

I've noticed this... thing... about my blog posts.  Some receive more views than others.  This sounds extremely obvious and elementary, but there's more.   There's always more. Some receive far more views than others.   As in, way, way, way, way, wayyyy more.  For the past few years, basically since I started this blog, which I have a difficult time accepting was more than two years ago, yet, it's a cold, hard fact, so let's move on, I have been attempting to figure out why the heck that is the case.  Why do people like some of my content, and ignore other bits of it?  Why are certain posts essentially avoided like the plague while other ones are viewed by fifty people within the first four hours?  You won't get the plague from them.  You don't even require a creepy bird mask for safety purposes.

I have discovered the answer: content.  Duh, right?  It seems that I am not at your intelligence level, unfortunately, because this took me a few years to solidify from beyond the realm of intangible, unnamable concept into usable data.  Congratulations on your smartness.  We're all very pleased with you.  Proud, too.  Snaps.  I am not as intelligent, or perceptive, or something, as you are, because this has only now really installed itself in my brain.  The world there is most likely meant to be "instilled" but I thoroughly enjoy the idea of something being installed in your brain like it is in your computer.  Imagine... if you could say, "I'm going to install back handspring today" or "I'm going to install super stick fighting abilities, downloading, estimated completion time 20 minutes".  That would be so obnoxiously rad.  What a fun moment in which one could relish the wonders of technology.  Science, kids.  Science!  

Science!!!!

If these Google glasses ever take off, because, oh yes, Google glasses are now a patented thing... 

If there's a way to connect them to your brain and download TED talks, I will figure it out.  This shall be deciphered!  Okay, so, maybe I am as smart as you are... just in slightly different and nerdier ways.  Possibly less useful ones that involve science fiction style devices, back handsprings and stickfighting instead of basic problem-solving skills...

But, I digress.

Back to content.  You guys like it when I actually have something to say.  Once again, this probably sounds blatantly obvious and kind of stupid, but I'm blonde, so just bear with me.  I've put up a lot of articles here where, frankly, I was just trying to think of something to post.  This happens to me often.  Honestly, almost daily.   I'll be scrolling through photographs, looking at what I have, and grasping at straws.  Some days, I go in to this ritual with an idea.  There's a story on my mind, I'm fixated on something that happened earlier in the day, or perhaps I'm bothered by something, since our world is certainly not a perfect happyland of bunnies, cotton candy, and rainbows.  Many things are right, but many things are wrong here.  That's another post.

Other days, I've got nothing.  I'm sitting there, staring at a bunch of seemingly unrelated, artistic, but uninteresting photographs. There will be a lot of posts of flowers, or street art.  There always are.  Those happen often because flowers are pretty, thus, they attract my attention and I have a tendency to photograph them, and I live in New York City, so, when I'm meandering around snapping away, graffiti and murals are generally some of the most vibrant and eye-catching sights in view, or, some of the most ignored.  Both of those cases attract my fancy, and my lens. So, I will be scrolling through my files, staring, bewildered, at all of these flowers, spray-painted gang signs and stickers, pick a bunch of them that were all taken in the same place, and crank out some mediocre post about how flowers are really nice, or, oh, aren't I so edgy and modern because look, it's graffiti!  

No, I'm not a hipster.  I just live in Brooklyn and am attempting to prove to you that graffiti and property defacement are valid forms of decorating the world.  These concepts are unrelated.

Point made, hipster cat, point made.

My point, though?  The posts like that... they suck.  They really do.  Let's not mince words.  I wrote them, and I think they suck.  Occasionally, I'll have one that's a zinger, but when I don't know what I'm writing about, the result is almost consistently boring.  Sometimes, a good photograph or two will save my sorry, lazy, uninspired butt, but, usually, I'm just making a last ditch effort to produce an article because somewhere, in my mind, I harbor this feeling of adult responsibility to post here as often as possible.  Preferably, daily.  I'm never sure if I feel this for my readers or for myself, because, let's be real here, there aren't that many of you readers.  That is one of the reasons I thank you all so often- you are really the vanguard, putting yourselves on the line for me, all ten of you.  Okay, so, there are more than ten of you, but frankly,  you are mighty, but a mighty few.  

HOWEVER.  When I do have something to say... this place explodes.  It's like 11pm or midnight when the club blows up and people actually start dancing.  Tiesto is pumping and the roof is on fire.  Hands are up in the air.  Drinks are on the house.  Everyone is weeping tears of joy as they dance their worries away- especially me.  

Not going to lie, when one of my articles becomes very popular, there's this wonderful feeling of gratification, partly because something I've done has reached many people, validating my existence, but also because the posts about which I feel the best are also the ones upon which I worked the hardest.  The soul-dumping, heart-baring posts are the ones you lovely reader people seem to like the most.  This is awesome, because it gives me a little bit more freedom to do what I want.  It's also taxing because, well, I feel like I have to deliver more.  I've put up a few of the more "sucky" type of posts over the past few weeks after sharing a bunch of really good articles lately, and I was very disappointed in them.  

Wow, screw the past tense, I still am disappointed in them.  They are out there, on the internet, being all mediocre and stuff.  I could have done so much better if I had simply taken twenty minutes out of my day, and riffed on something I care about instead of "ooh, pretty flowers, spray paint, woohooooo!!" (That's not a direct quote, but you get the picture).

So, um, yeah. Expect some decent content, for three main reasons: 

1.  It's more fun for me to write, and for you to read.  

2. I avoided this for a while, but, I'm a nerd, and you seem to enjoy this.  Cool.

3. I'm so sick of writing posts that are lame- I might explode.

 This new, awesome content is not going to come every day.  I'm too busy for that.  Sorry.  I know, I know.  You can't really experience life until you've had your morning coffee and Travel and Toile.  I get it.  I feel similarly.  But, I'm going to try to bring the ruckus, and the good, no, freaking fantastic content.

Cheers, all.  Let's see how this goes.

Thanks!

Best,

Emily

Cha Togar M' Fhearg Gun Dìoladh

Cha Togar M' Fhearg Gun Dìoladh (Gaelic)

Nemo me impune lacesset (Latin)

Wha daur meddle wi' me (Scots)

No one attacks me with impunity

This is the motto of the Scottish Order of the Thistle, the Scottish chivalric order.  This particular painting was in Edinburgh Castle, in the private chambers that once belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots, in a time when Gaelic, Scots, and English would have been spoken.  Latin was still considered to be a language of old orders, and of oaths.  French would actually have been spoken in this castle as well.  In any case, I love the unicorns, I love the phrase, I love the painting, and I love Scotland.

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Like this?  Take a look at For Scotland!